Beautiful and Deadly
by The Knave of Northland
Summary: Glimmer was incompetent with the bow and arrows, so why did she choose to use them? Won second place in Starvation's September one-shot challenge. Prompt: Arrows.


**This was written for Starvation's September one-shot challenge. Prompt: "arrows." And it won second-place! It was on my old account so I moved it to this one.**

* * *

"Mommy? Mommy, where are you?" I tippy-toe into Mommy and Daddy's room, searching for her.

The door creaks open and I peak inside. Nope, Mommy's not there. Maybe she's playing hide-and-seek! So I shout, "Ready or not, here I come!" And I throw the door completely open.

I'm disappointed to see that she isn't in there. I check under the bed, in the closet, and even under the covers for Mommy. Maybe Jewel knows where she is. No, never mind. Jewel's too busy learning to fight to help me find her. And Daddy isn't going to be any help either, he's helping her learn to fight with the others. Mommy's usually with them, leaving a mean ol' babysitter to watch me; but she's taken today off because she has a cold!

That's why I was looking for, I wanted to see if she felt better. As I turn on my heel to leave, I spot something hanging on the wall. It's the arrow holder that Mommy uses! I don't know what its real name is, but it looks really pretty. She doesn't like me touching her weapons, but I really want to. Carefully, I pull out an arrow and look at it. It's silver, deadly, and sleek. It glimmers in the the light. At this thought I giggle, it makes me think of me! I'm not deadly, Jewel teases me and says I couldn't hurt a fly. But it does glimmer, and Mommy named me Glimmer! I quickly touch the point at the end, soft enough that I can feel it and not make myself bleed.

Before Mommy finds me, I grab three more out of the holder and dash into my room. These are gonna be fun to play with! Unfortunately, I accidentally slam the door. "Glimmer? Is that you?" Uh oh, Mommy heard me.

Quickly, I try to stash the arrows underneath my pillow, but Mommy's already at the door. "Glimmer, open the door."

I hurry and open it and she steps in. With one look at my expression, her face becomes severe. "Glimmer, what are you hiding?"

"Nothin', Mommy."

"I know when you're lying, Glimmer. Give whatever you were hiding to me."

"But-,"

"No buts. Give it to me."

Reluctantly, I pull out the arrows from under my pillow and guiltily hand them to her. Her eyes grow wide and dark. I hang my head and stick out my lower lip. "Jewel listens to me, Glimmer. Why can't you?" Her voice sounds mean.

"They were pretty."

"You can't take things because they're pretty. You can get put in the stocks for stealing. Turn around."

"Mommy-,"

"Now!"

I bite my lip and slowly turn around. I'm about to get spanked. Whap! Whap! My best friend Silk says her parents spank her, but the way she talks about it, they don't do it like Mommy does. Tears spring into my eyes the moment she leaves. I've never minded the spankings, though, I've just thought that Mommy wanted me to stay in line.

And then something clicks. Mommy and Daddy never ever talk to Jewel like that, even when she does something wrong. They sound a little mean, but not like Mommy sounded when she spanked me. Do they like Jewel more than me?

* * *

_"Happy Birthday, dear Jewel,_

_Happy Birthday to you!"_

Mom, Dad, and the whole training academy sing in unison. As soon as they're done, everyone in the room claps. Everyone, that is, except for me. I didn't sing, either. My thirteen year old face screws into a scowl at my sixteen year old sister. She got to train earlier than me, she gets sung to on her birthday and I don't, and Mother and Father giver her private training as well. "Come on, Glimmer, sing along!" Silk nudges me.

"I'm not singing for her," I hiss icily.

"Why not?"

I roll my eyes and pick up my spear, "You wouldn't understand."

"Just nervous?"

"About what?"

"About the postings later today. Aren't you curious about how you'll do?"

I shrug, "I guess. At least Mom and Dad can't help rank people."

"Why do you say that?"

I shrug again just to shake her off. Silk's got a good life, she wouldn't understand what it's like to have a perfect older sister who's the only one Mom and Dad care about.

Gilt, the head trainer, walks into the middle of the room, and shouts for all of us to get to a station so evaluations can begin. I grab a spear, I'm good at those, and head over to the station for them. The twelve year old's go first, since it's their first year to begin. Half of them miss the target. They'll be able to make it next year, a year's worth of practice does wonders. "You nervous?" Someone says behind me.

I turn my head and see a tall boy my age standing behind me. "Why?" I bark back.

"You're blinking a lot."

"So?"

"People blink a lot when they're nervous."

I roll my eyes at the boy, "Leave me alone."

Silk pats my shoulder, "Easy, Glim."

Finally, after a few more twelve year old children go, I'm ready to throw my spear. Remember, throw it fast, throw it hard, and throw it right. It hits the middle ring. I smile spreads across my lips and I give a sweet, flirtatious smile to the trainer. "Yay, Glimmer!" Silk cheers, clapping her hands.

The boy behind me pulls the spear out and then throws it himself. It hits right on the edge of the bulls'-eye. My eyes bug out and my jaw drops. What is he thinking? True, my parents don't pay much attention to me, but I can get what I want if I cause enough ruckus. And I can surely get him in trouble. So I say the only thing I can think of, "Hey! Why'd you do that?" Drat, that sounds babyish.

He smirks at my obvious disbelief. "See ya, 'Glim.'"

One day I'll make sure that boy dies.

* * *

Hour after hour I work with weapons while trainers write down notes about me. But when I reach the bow and arrow station, the trainer smiles at me, "You're Jewel's sister, right? You should be good!"

That's not true. I've tried using the bow and arrow so many times and I still can't get the hang of it. But I still need to try, right? One, two, three arrows zoom by the target, embedding themselves in the wall. My face grows strawberry red and I hurl the bow to the ground in anger. "Forget this!" I snarl and stalk away to show off my knife throwing skills.

"The results are up!" Silk tugs on my jacket sleeve, "Cmon, let's see how you did!"

With a sulky expression, I let her pull me over to the wall where Dad, who has a gigantic grin on his face, is tacking pieces of paper to the wall. And then I see why he's beaming. Jewel is the best archer of all the sixteen year old's. I shove aside some little kids to see how the thirteen year old's did. Surely I got a good place in spear throwing...

Wrong.

First place goes to some boy named Marvel Waters. I see him give a whoop of joy and fury surges through me when I see that it was the kid who went after me. I quickly scan the list and find my name, Glimmer Sheahan, in the tenth spot. That's where it cuts off, after the tenth person. My face begins to burn.. How could I score that? It-it isn't fair! I notice Mom and Dad hugging Jewel and smiling happily. "Glim? Glim, what's wrong?" Silk says, shaking me to get my attention.

"Go away!" I snap and jerk my jacket sleeve out of her grasp.

I slowly walk off, nobody's going to notice me anyways. They're too occupied with seeing their scores and congratulating their friends. Tenth. There are only fifteen people my age at this training center, surely I couldn't be that bad. But then again, they tend to take off points for bad behavior. Looks like I blew it. I find my way to the storage room and curl up into a ball in the corner, the tears starting to fall out. I deserved to get a higher ranking! That boy behind me was asking to get snapped at! Why do they count of for behavior, it isn't fair! I angrily push over a spear which clatters loudly to the ground. Oh, just perfect.

I crawl over to the other side of the room and set the spear back up...and then I notice the quiver of arrows hanging off of a hook in the corner. They're a brand new set and gleam in the dim light. I take one out and look at it. Beautiful but deadly. "I could never ask for a better daughter," I hear Mom say as her, Dad, and Jewel walk by the closet, oblivious to my disappearance, "Now where's Glimmer? She made tenth in spear throwing."

"She just needs some work..." Dad says, but their voices die away as they walk in the other direction.

Okay, I guess they aren't totally oblivious. But still, I can' stand how much they praise Jewel. Sure, I get some attention, but Jewel's still in the spotlight. I look down at the arrow in my hands and hold it tight. If Jewel can shoot arrows with ease, then I can, too. In fact, I can be better than her. These arrows are beautiful and deadly, I just have to make myself like them.

* * *

Everyday after shooting the bow and arrow for an hour, I got into the habit of putting lemon juice into my hair and lying out in the sun. Then I would put moisturizer in it when I took my bath in the evenings so it wouldn't die out. If I was to be deadly like that those arrows, then I had to be as beautiful, too. I stole jars of Jewel's skin treatments to prevent acne and keep perfect skin. I used the special lotion we have shipped from the Capitol to make my skin become a glowing, sun-kissed tan.

Finally I was sixteen, with only two years left to volunteer. Stupid Jewel was always too late and never got a chance to volunteer. Mom and Dad lost interest in her after she moved out and married.

I became their favorite.

* * *

"You're not that good with a bow, Glim," Silk sighs, "You were so good at spear throwing, what happened to that?"

"Jewel was the best archer in the family, and I intend to make her the second-best."

"Jewel moved out of your house last year, I know you two didn't really see eye to eye, but are you really still bickering?"

"Put on my shoes and walk around in them for awhile, Silk, then you'll understand."

"You see how much time your parents devote to you, nothing's going to make you fall out of favor."

"I know that, but I can never have to much favor with them."

Silk's too cautious, she'd never survive the games. But I'm not about to tell her that. I knock an arrow, pull back the string, and let it fly fast toward the target. It hits the outside ring and I chuckle, "I'm just having a bad day."

Silk knocks her own arrow, "You aren't having a bad day, archery just isn't your talent, Glim! Why can't you understand that? All you've ever cared about is being, as you put it, 'beautiful and deadly.' Why do you obsess over it?"

"Why? I'll tell you why, Silk. An arrow is beautiful and deadly, and I promised myself that I would be like an arrow. It's the only way for me to succeed."

"So you want to be like those arrows that you can't even shoot? You're nuts, Glimmer."

She walks away and begins chatting with Marvel. I want to shoot both of them right now. Narrowing my eyes at that goody-two-shoes Silk, I put my bow down and head home. I've had enough of this. But I make sure to put an arrow in my satchel, as a way to remember what I promised myself I would become. The reapings are next week and I need all the reminding I can get; especially since I decided that I would volunteer. Making myself a victor would be sure to make sure Jewel is completely shut out of my life. I'd be the family hero.

When I enter my house, I hurry into my room and look at myself in the mirror. I've become beautiful; all those creams I took from Jewel and putting lemon juice in my hair have made me radiant like those silver arrows. After a bit more practicing, I know that I can shoot something with a bow. I push Silk's cautioning words out of my mind and think about how I can knock the arrow in my sleep. I've become deadly like the arrows. And I can use those arrows in the games, nobody's going to get in my way, nobody else can have them. I'll make sure of that.

* * *

I want to kill that girl so bad right now. That girl from District 12, I'll bet she's just like Jewel, oh so perfect with her training score of 11. Ha! I'll be she hunts illegally outside of her district's fence, that's why she's so good with plants. If I can kill that criminal, I'll be doing all of Panem a favor. But how can I fulfill this favor when the stupid girl holds the arrow I shot at her and taunts me. Taunts me! How dare she? "Glim, do you think you can keep watch tonight?" Marvel asks.

Marvel's been getting on my last nerves. He's just like Silk, telling me that I can't use the bow and arrows. I frown at him, "Yeah, but once Twelve is down on the ground, she's all mine."

Marvel laughs, "Fine, if Cato doesn't beat you to her."

I lower my voice, "If Cato kills her, I'll kill him instead."

He quickly backs away and goes to talk with Clove, who could really use some of that cream for your skin tone that I use every night. Concentrate, Glimmer, don't focus on helping Clove out, she's your enemy. One by one, everyone drifts off to sleep and now I'm left all alone. Four snoozing idiots surround me; it would be so easy to kill one of them, but their cries would wake the others. And then there's Twelve is hiding in that tree, no doubt watching me this entire time.

To pass the time, I look at the arrows in my quiver and begin to go over my mental list again. Am I beautiful? My skin is still perfect and my hair has kept its sunshine hue, so that's a yes. Am I deadly? I almost shot Twelve up in that tree and I could kill any of these four sleepers, so I believe that it's a yes as well. Then I'm still like the arrows, and as long as I can remain like them, I can win this game. I can be the best.

I fight to keep my eyelids open as the fire dies, but I'm too tired and sleep finally overtakes me.

* * *

A low buzzing reaches my ears and I hear Clove scream. My eyes snap open and I see a tracker jacker nest, with the mutts flying around it, lying on the ground. Cato grabs my hand and we take off. The buzzing gets louder and louder and I know that we're going to get stung.

And then I trip.

My hand slips from Cato's and I fall to the ground, but he keeps running. "Get back here you big-," I'm cut off by a stinging on the back of my neck. The tracker jackers have gotten to me.

I jump up and try to brush them off, but they keep coming, stinging my face, neck, and hands. "Cato, Marvel, help!" I scream as the pain begins to feel like fire.

After stumbling forward a few steps, I fall down and roll over onto my back. "You'll never have approval, Glim, surely you figured it out by now," Jewel walks out from behind a tree.

The trees transform into thousands of beetles and melt as the scurry toward me. I shut my eyes and grit my teeth. They're just illusions, Glimmer, they're just illusions; it's just the tracker jacker venom.

Time seems to slow down as I begin to think while the imaginary beetles crawl all over me. How did that tracker jacker nest fall from the tree? You know, I didn't see Twelve anywhere, I'll bet she had something to do with it! She wanted my bow and arrows! She can't have them!

I begin to panic as I realize what will happen. Twelve's going to take my weapon while I'm unconscious, and then kill me. She can't take away my arrows, they're what I am! Without them, I'm nothing. I don't care if I actually can't shoot, arrows are what got me here!

I open my eyes and see that my body has swelled from the mutts' poison. A look of horror crosses my probably now hideous face.

Then everything goes black.


End file.
